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Saturday, April 28, 2012

I know that I don't normally post more than once per week, but I have some cool news to share with you.

I posted a card on my blog a couple of weeks ago called; A little bird told me. I entered that card over at MilkCoffee's Bold and Bright challenge.Well guess what? I was picked as one of their Top 3, and won one of their cute digi images as well.

So I thought it only fitting that I celebrate my good fortune with a card that I made using the image that I picked.

I picked this little cutie because I have several musically talented family members. A brother that started out as a Rockstar and ended up in the recording industry, and I also have a few nieces and nephews that could very well end up on a stage rockin' it out at some point in their lives!

I coloured Alicia with my Copic markers after I printer her out on Neenah card stock. The DP that I used is from Recollections "All Girl" paper pad and I am really really liking them.

The above photo was cropped close so you could see the glossy accents that I added to her guitar to make it look real. Of course there is a fare amount of bling here and there because that is what I do, and seriously what Rockstar doesn't have bling???

Anyway peeps, thanks for sharing in my excitement, I really appreciate it, and I also appreciate the fact that you take the time to stop by from time to time.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Hello there crafty peeps, it's Thursday and you know what comes with that...a brand new Twisted Thursday challenge over at The Outlawz of course.

Before I get into the details of our new challenge I must say that last weeks "Wedding" theme twist turned out to be such an elegant affair.

There were some lovely creations posted between the members who participated, and from my rockin' design team members as well. Well done !!

I hope everyone had a good week and managed to squeeze in some crafty time. I know I was certainly busy, as I made three cards this week, the first one being for this weeks challenge...

"Anything Goes with Flowers"

Once again I have another family birthday, this one is for my sweet niece that is turning 12 in a week. Last year I made her a card using another Kenny K image, and I thought I would pick another one this year.

This little image is called Downtown Diva and she is from the Glam gang collection.

It's actually kind of funny how my niece seems to emulate the fashions of each of these images every year. She is also big into the "peace sign" and it makes me chuckle because I was so into it myself when I was about her age.

The DP I used was from Recollections "All Girl" collection. I coloured her with my Copic markers, and of course added my usual bit of bling using Stardust Stickles on her shirt. You can't see it very well, but I did use some glossy accents on her eyes, iPod and sneakers.

I hope to see you over at the challenge this week because this particular challenge is one that pretty much suits all papercrafters. So get into your craft-rooms or spaces and get those creative juices flowing!

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Hello there crafty peeps! Do you love going to weddings? I know that I do, and there's no pun intended either.

One of the reasons I like them is I love to see what the Bride is wearing, and how she styled her hair.

There are many different dress and hair styles because obviously there are many differing tastes. It would be pretty boring if every bride wore the same dress and hair style don't ya think?

Now I consider myself to be a simplistic person in many areas of my life, and I think that carries over into my cards as well. I don't do frills or poofy girlie stuff. I guess you can call me a minimalist of sorts, but I do like a little bling as long as it is tasteful.

So, why I am talking about weddings?

Well today, we have a wedding theme to the Twisted Thursday Challenge over at The Outlawz. So we want you to make your project using whatever medium(s) you choose, just make it a wedding card, an invitation, or even a layout for your scrapbook. That's the twist!

Given that weddings are pretty much black tie affairs, I thought I would test out the black and white technique I learned at Color Me Creative Classroom, class 4.

I used this gorgeous Mo Manning image of a Bride and Groom dancing together. In order to achieve this look you simply use cool gray Copic markers ranging from C9 through to C00. I love how it turned out, but I had major issues trying to photograph it. The image is crisp as it should be, but I just simply could not enhance the tiny bit of bling that I added to the wedding dress, hearts and the edging around the tag.

By cropping the picture (below) you can see that the bling shows up, but it still doesn't do it any justice. I added "Stardust Stickles" to the folds of the dress and then I edged the tag using a black "atyou Spica" twinkling pen followed by more stardust stickles.

I had a fleeting thought to add a "splash" colour somewhere, but I was just to frightened to ruin a good thing. Perhaps I will practice with a scrap piece of paper and use pencil crayons for a test run.

The card sketch was my own design and is simplistic. I used my SB oval dies, and pop dots to give the image some depth against a black matte. The sentiment was simply printed out using my computer/printer and then I used a chipboard shape to cut out a design for a tag.

Well there you have it, my wedding card for this weeks Twisted Thursday challenge theme. Come on, get on over to the Outlawz so we can see your creations too!

I love Kraftin'Kimmie stamps, because they are just so versatile and they're the funniest little characters. You would be hard pressed not to find something in the collection that will capture your heart, and the illustrators, well they are just simply amazing artist's.

I stamped this little cutie with my Memento Black Ink onto Neenah card-stock, and then coloured her up with my Copic markers. The flowers I made using a MS punch. The sentiment is simply printed out using my computer. Inside the card says; "it's your 9th birthday, so have a happy one!

The "recycled" twist is every piece of ribbon that I used came from non crafting sources. Such as; the brown organza ribbon (I made into the bow) came from a box of chocolates, the textured brown fabric had been the handles that I removed from a paper shopping bag. Lastly, the tiny silky ribbon on the tag was taken from a discarded hair barrette. I just simply iron them and reuse them wherever I can.

So there you go, you just never know where you will find something to use that will save you some cash, and at the same time the environment, well at least for a little while anyway.

I hope you enjoyed my card today. Don't forget to head over to The Outlawz Twisted Thursday challenge, and try to do your part to help save our planet for future generations. Hey, you just never know, you might even win a prize for your efforts.We have some awesome prizes from some great sponsors such as,Paper Temptress, iCopicand one ofAnne Fenton's Digital Images.

I found a couple of challenges that I am going to enter this little cutie....

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

I was blog hopping over the weekend and came across this challenge blog called (Pin)spirational Challenges, created by Deanne Clarke-Saunders. It is a relatively new challenge blog, and Deanne has a call out for card-makers and scrapbookers alike to help her get started, in case anyone is interested.

If you are familiar with Pinterest, then you will connect with it right away. A cool thing about her site is that she offers free Digi images to compliment each challenge so that you can use it for inspiration. How nice is that? So hop on over and take a look yourself, you just might be looking for an opportunity like this.

I took advantage of this free little Digi image so I could participate in her very first challenge, but I got side-tracked over the holiday weekend and completely forgot about it. When I looked to see when the challenge closed I had less than an hour to complete a card. Now, this gal doesn't like to rush her artistic skills so needless to say I opted out of the challenge. I did make a card though using the image, and will likely hunt around to see if it qualifies at another challenge somewhere else in blog-land. Hopefully I will have the time to grab another free Digi and play along on challenge #2.

The challenge that I missed was to design a card/layout by taking your inspiration from a photo of these adorable and yummy looking ladybug cookies. I downloaded this image from a link the site provided that directed me to a blog called Little Scraps of Heaven Designs. The Digi image was simply called

"Little Lady Bug".

I printed this little cutie on Neenah card-stock, and then coloured her with my Copic markers. I don't usually use sketches because I prefer to design my own, but on this particular occasion I decided to use one.

I followed a sketch that I found over on "I Need a Sketch" in group 30. I thought it to be a perfect sketch that kept within the circle theme of a round little ladybug. I cut all the circles out with my SB small standard circle dies, and pulled the colours from the image. I know that is backwards, but I can be backwards at times too. I embossed some of them using my CB dots embossing folder.

I did a little experiment this time with my Black Viva Decor Pearl Pen and used it to give the black spots and antennae some depth. I think it turned out pretty good actually. Then I pop dotted the image up to further enhance the dimension.

The border is from EK Success and the flower/ladybug embellies I had kicking around forever. See, you just never know when you will use something, so never ever throw things like that away.

To finish everything off, I decided to combine peel and stick letters with a computer printed sentiment to create a little hello card for one of the girlie girls in my life. Ooh, I wonder who it will be???

The ribbon ties it all up (no pun intended) into a neat little package!

So there you have it, the card I didn't make in time for a challenge. Oh well, I still enjoyed making it for my stash.

Just a tidbit more...I found a couple of challenges that my little lady bug can enter:

Monday, April 9, 2012

Hey there crafty peeps, Michelle over at the Pink Paper Paradiseis having a great giveaway. It is in celebration of her new Facebook Page. I just found out about it, but it's almost over.

The contest closes tomorrow April 10th, 2012 at 8:30 p.m. (Brisbane, Australia time, that is), but you still have time to participate. The easy peazy steps you need to follow are listed below so get crack-in peeps!

Look at the stash you can win!

One lucky winner will receive a 12"x12" Celebrations Designer Series Paper Pack and a 2 pack Hostess "Happiest Birthday Wishes" stamp set all from Stampin' Up!

This giveaway is open worldwide.

To enter this giveaway you will need to do one or more of the following:

4. Place the photo of this give away in your sidebar with a link back to the Pink Paper Paradise Blog or do a post on your blog promoting this giveaway.

You will receive an entry for each of the steps that you complete. So, if you like the facebook page that is one entry, if you also follow or are already a follower of Pink Paper Paradise's blog then that's two entries, and if you follow or are already a follower of the Make It Monday blog then that is three entries.

Finally if you promote this giveaway on your blog then that is four entries.

Oh, and make sure that you also leave a comment on Pink Paper Paradise blog indicating all the steps you've taken.

Of course, it will be a randomly chosen winner, but one never knows when lady luck will appear.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

I know I have been MIA, but so much has been happening in my personal life that I just needed a little bit of time to regroup. Did ya miss me??? LOL

I have some really cool news to share with you though. Shortly after my last post to you I learned that some amazing people over at that awesome paper-crafty social network affectionately known as, The Outlawz invited me to join their very talented Design Team, permanently.

Yup, you heard me right, lil' o me.

You probably know that I recently had the opportunity to get my feet wet by guest designing on their site for the month of March.

I wasn't sure if I was ready for a position like that, but if you know me personally then you know that I live by the motto, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Boy oh boy, am I happy that I did because now I have the confidence to take it to the next level.

Thank you Colleen, Anne and Sandi for encouraging me, and for believing in me, I promise I won't let you down!

SOO-WEET....is all I can say! I'm dancin' on the ceiling.

So as of today, I am now an official design team member on the group challenge called, Twisted Thursdays. I will be posting a card or a project, but more likely a card, every Thursday so stay tuned.

The Twisted Thursday Challenge Group is where you create cards, layouts and other creations using your favourite medium or combination thereof, in an "Anything Goes" kind of design. The "twisted" part is making the card using the theme of each week, and in this case it's an Easter card. There are monthly prizes to be won, and you can even boost your chance to win by making a card using the theme of the week. It sounds easy peasey to me, what do you think?

So what are you waiting for, come on over and join us. Enter your card/project into a challenge that suits your fancy, we have one for each day of the week. You can win prizes from some fantastic sponsors each month, so pop on over and take a look. Even if you weren't to win you most certainly will make friends along the way.

So without further ado, this is the card I made for this weeks "Easter" themed challenge.

I used a Stamping Bella image by Mo Manning called

Row of Eggs with Bunny. I used Memento Ink on Neenah card-stock, and coloured it up using my Copic Markers. The DP I used is from DCWV Citrus collection. I did a little embossing on the lower half using a SB embossing folder, added some stickles to the stripes up above, and finished it all off with an EK Success border punch.

I also added stickles, and some glossy accents on the eggs, ladybug, and butterfly. I tried something a little different this time with the little flowers. After I coloured them I made little cardstock flowers and glued them on top. I was trying to get a little bit more definition, but I'm not sure if I accomplished that. Either way I'm happy with the finished product.

I hope you pop over to the site and play along with us this week. Thanks again for taking the time out of your busy day to leave me much appreciated comments, and for simply stopping by :)S

Guest Designer

I'm a winner

About Me

In 2000 I was stricken with a life altering illness that ended my professional career in law enforcement. You think your life is going according to plan, and then one day you wake up and it all changes. I have many physical disabilities that rob me of my independence. After overcoming many hurdles there came the day when I desperately needed to find something meaningful to do with my time. It had to be constructive, challenging, and had to keep my brain active. I tried so many different things that just didn’t light that spark, so I kept trying new things and so on. One day I found myself dabbling in the paper crafting world where I developed a passion for Copic Marker colouring, and guess what, I found that spark. Now I have a new passion, a new direction wherein that I want to learn more and more.
If somebody had of told me that I would eventually create a blog and display my artistic abilities within it I would have told them they were off their rocker! However, I didn't get here alone; together with the love of a wonderful man, a truly amazing family, my masterful friend Sean, and along with some awesome and wacky women friends, I was able to get it together.